AP Environmental Science Exam Review Questions & ANSWERS (A+ GRADED 100% VERIFIED)| 2025/2026

AP Environmental Science Exam
Review
1. What is a process in which rows of crops are plowed across the hillside to prevent
erosion?
A) Terracing
B) Contour farming
C) Intercropping
D) No-till farming
Answer: B) Contour farming

2. What is a basic substance that absorbs hydrogen ions or releases hydroxyl ions?
A) Acid
B) Alkaline
C) Neutral
D) Buffer
Answer: B) Alkaline

3. What is a bloom of dinoflagellates that causes reddish discoloration of coastal
ocean waters?
A) Algal bloom
B) Red tide
C) Phytoplankton bloom
D) Eutrophication
Answer: B) Red tide

4. What is a climate variation in the tropical Pacific that occurs every three to seven
years?
A) La Nina
B) Southern Oscillation
C) El Nino
D) Monsoon
Answer: C) El Nino

5. What is a complex of interrelated food chains in an ecological community?
A) Food chain
B) Food web
C) Trophic level
D) Energy pyramid
Answer: B) Food web

,6. What is a cooling of the ocean surface off the western coast of South America that
occurs periodically every 4 to 12 years?
A) El Nino
B) Southern Oscillation
C) La Nina
D) Upwelling
Answer: C) La Nina

7. What is a cyclonic storm having winds ranging from 48 to 121 km per hour?
A) Hurricane
B) Tropical storm
C) Typhoon
D) Cyclone
Answer: B) Tropical storm

8. What is a fiscal policy that lowers taxes on income and raises taxes on
unsustainable consumption?
A) Carbon tax
B) Green tax
C) Environmental levy
D) Pollution tax
Answer: B) Green tax

9. What is a fishing technique in which the ocean floor is scraped by heavy nets?
A) Long lining
B) Driftnets
C) Bottom trawling
D) Purse seining
Answer: C) Bottom trawling

10. What is a group of modern windmills called?
A) Wind array
B) Wind farm
C) Wind cluster
D) Wind station
Answer: B) Wind farm

11. What is a group of organisms of the same species that live in the same area?
A) Community
B) Ecosystem
C) Population
D) Species
Answer: C) Population

,12. What is a high-speed, meandering wind current at altitudes of 15 to 25 km?
A) Trade winds
B) Jet stream
C) Doldrums
D) Hadley cell
Answer: B) Jet stream

13. What is a hydrocarbon deposit derived from living matter of a previous geologic
time?
A) Biofuel
B) Fossil fuel
C) Petroleum
D) Natural gas
Answer: B) Fossil fuel

14. What is a hydrocarbon that forms as sediments are buried and pressurized?
A) Coal
B) Natural gas
C) Petroleum
D) Crude oil
Answer: C) Petroleum

15. What is a layer in a large body of water that sharply separates regions differing in
temperature?
A) Epilimnion
B) Hypolimnion
C) Thermocline
D) Photic zone
Answer: C) Thermocline

16. What is a layer of soil called?
A) Stratum
B) Horizon
C) Profile
D) Zone
Answer: B) Horizon

17. What is a long, narrow island running parallel to the mainland built by waves and
currents?
A) Atoll
B) Barrier island
C) Delta
D) Peninsula
Answer: B) Barrier island

, 18. What is a lowland area saturated with moisture, such as a marsh or swamp?
A) Floodplain
B) Wetlands
C) Estuary
D) Delta
Answer: B) Wetlands

19. What is a method of supplying irrigation water through tubes that drip water at
the base of each plant?
A) Spray irrigation
B) Flood irrigation
C) Drip irrigation
D) Center pivot irrigation
Answer: C) Drip irrigation

20. What model predicts population trends based on birth/death rates and economic
status?
A) Population pyramid
B) Logistic growth model
C) Demographic transition model
D) Carrying capacity model
Answer: C) Demographic transition model

21. What is a nuclear reaction in which a heavy nucleus splits into fragments?
A) Fusion
B) Fission
C) Decay
D) Radiation
Answer: B) Fission

22. What is a place where a large quantity of a resource sits for a long period of
time?
A) Storage
B) Sink
C) Reservoir
D) Cache
Answer: C) Reservoir

23. What is a plate boundary where plates move away from each other?
A) Convergent boundary
B) Divergent boundary
C) Transform boundary
D) Subduction zone